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The Steampunk Console Project

Ack! I go into the next room to take a short nap... and already it's the end of August!!! No doubt about it! Something evil is stealing time from me!!"You got that right!" says a sinister sounding voice, coming from somewhere behind me.

First, I would like to apologize, to all those who have been kind enough to leave a comment, for my singular lack of exertion in maintaining this journal account. Though I cannot promise that this will change, I will try, at least, to make up for it by being more forthcoming in details in what I do report.

For the rendered image in the previous journal entry... well, it's a twelve-hour render, and I have not made any improvements... but I have uploaded a full-screen image to allow better viewing of details. Just click on the image below to link to a mid-size image. Then click on that image to be taken to a 1280 x 1024 view ( after you click with the little "magnify" cursor ). Eventually, I'm hoping to release the content that produced that image... free to anyone who might want to use it... or parts of it... in their own 3D renderings. One stipulation, though. It will be in Caligari ".scn" format, in remembrance of dear ol' Caligari trueSpace... recently executed by the good folks at Microsoft, for the crime of having fallen below the bottom-line.

... so you will have to have access to a copy of trueSpace 6.6, at least, to open the file ( or an application that can read Caligari files ).

Now, for the console project:

There's no reason why all the panels on this build should be built in exactly the same fashion. Particularly since each panel will serve a seperate range of specific functions. One - power supplies, fixed and variable, single and dual-polarity; two - electro-mechanical ( controls for DC motors, steppers, servos, etc. ); three - electronic prototyping, an array of devices to facilitate the use of the drawer-mounted prototyping boards; four - the synthesizer section ( sound & music modules,and my trusty old ESQ-1 ); five - instrumentation ( digital and analog meters, frequency generators, counters, digital oscilloscope(s) ); aannd... finally... six - the computer...

...which, in the render, you see is not visible. Which is because it will ( if this works out ) likely be the most complex part of the whole machine. Since the computer ( and it's associated network of micro-controllers ) will be the main engine behind this system... why not design it rather like the engine of a... um... "hot-rod". That is, with the engine exposed. Open-frame.

Hence the initial design concept for the computer keyboard:

Of course, this is not the finished keyboard... simply a loose assemblage of the prospective components, until the final details are worked out. Note the use of old-fashioned Gilbert "Erector-Set" pieces. Also shown is one of the two sets of micro lever-switches that will be used to convert the movement of the vintage "Victor" typewriter-keys into PC keyboard matrix signals. And note the gears...

Now, by having the "engine" exposed, I don't mean having the motherboard, drives, power-supply, etc. out in the open, or even visible, for that matter. This is a "Steampunk" computer... and that means... gears. So the computer section may end up looking something like this:

...and, from another angle:

This view shows the semi-finished power-supply section to the left, the WIP electromechanical section centered, and the "fiddling-with-it-till-it's-right" computer section to the right ( likely it will not end up looking exactly like this... but this is the general idea ). The aluminum strips, separating the sections, will be replaced with hardwood and brass... and it's likely that the entire console will be studded with a range of smaller knobs, indicator lights, switches, and bronze-finished embellishments over the surface of each main panel.

The central-column section isn't even at the "fiddling" stage yet... as I'm only just now near readying a jig to help me cut the one-foot diameter acrylic tube into sections. So, for now, there's just a few brass tubes and parts to help me imagine.

Hopefully the final version will look a bit more orderly. And... this is the main thing... the gears must be functional! Steampunk... not Steampunk'd ( http://wondermark.com/538/ ). Since this is meant to be a functional instrumentation console... not a prop.

The objective here, then, is to implement a range of mechanical accessories... mechanical numerical readouts, thumb-wheel switches, event-counters, etc. Perhaps even some of the remarkable designs detailed here:

...... no bling? Darn! ...guess that eliminates the special pinball-machine function I had planned on installing, using the three silver pull-knobs under the keyboard.

... as in Bling!bling!bling!bling!bling!!!...

Seriously.

But thanks, momentrabbit, for the comment. I know what you mean... and how easily this project could drift into excessiveness ( if it already hasn't ). What I'm hoping is that the requirement for functionality ( and notice that I'm trying to maintain some sort of layout symmetry on each panel ) will eliminate, or at least reduce, the likelihood of that happening.

Of course, that's not to say that something done just for fun can't be just as attractive!

For anyone else who might also find this sort of thing appealing, I suppose I should point out a few more sources. Such as for the Gilbert Erector-Set parts which , along with some hobby-shop brass strips sandwiched between, form the side-rails of the keyboard:

Ebay, naturally. But some good steady sources of these things would seem to be here:

Buying from these dealers pretty much allows you to get exactly what you need... sometimes even for a reasonable price. I needn't tell anyone what bidding can sometimes be like on ebay... one thing I've learned: never try to buy any of this kind of stuff just before a comic-book or science-fiction convention.

I used the "EZ" and "EY" style girders to frame the keyboard, and this sort of pattern is probably going to be used to fill out most of the computer section. Some of these type of pieces might just be handy for implementing the moving framework within the central-column, as well. Naturally, though, I'm going to have to have them re-plated with a brass finish.

The vertical sides of the computer section will likely be in hardwood, with a few copper conduits, joints, and bits of tubing, on the sides here and there. And on the front-piece of this ( nearest the central column ) will be a sort of "furnace-window"... giving a glimpse into the Heart of the... Console. It's likely that this will be based upon that part of another interesting project, some details of which are given here:

2) Clive "Max the Magnificent" Maxfield! Not only is Max an all-around electronics and engineering guru, but his various columns, blogs, books, and webcasts provide access to a compendious cornucopia of information spanning the breadth of human knowledge from the subject of Field-programmable gate arrays... to color-theory... to Monty Python! In particular, his current Man vs. Woman "Display-O-Meter" project should provide plenty of information and inspiration for console builders to sink their teeth into.

...nooo... I am not his mother. But I'd be proud if I had've been! At the PLDesignline link above, and also here:

A wealth of links to eat away my day! You're right, something is stealing time!! n.n Thank you for the references.

Pinball - you know, I'm surprised there isn't more overlap between pinball and steampunk, in general. Given the electro-mechanical and heavily analog nature of most earlier decks, the solenoids and sensors - it's a match just waiting to be realized. I spent a very confused and happy day working in a service depot for a video game reseller once - back when that meant T-moulding, flyback transformers and leaf microswitches, long before Wiis and Playstation - and spent some time combing the stacks and racks of pinball machine parts. (Had to. Their usual technician hadn't labelled anything. Job security, I suppose..)

That said, the thought of a Timelord at the console, flipping the paddles and trying to light all the quasars in the nebula before his last ball goes down the singularity, is most amusing. (Recalls the events leading to the Baker-McCoy regeneration, come to think of it - with the Tardis as the ball.)

Noticed the symmetry - it's obvious a lot of consideration has gone into the aesthetic appeal of your console - the fact that it has functional merit atop that is just mindblowing. :)

Oooh, erector kits! I had some meccano-like kit, as a tot - little bits and pieces are still turning up in odd places, years later, in strange little twisted assemblies that must have made perfect sense once upon a time. (Document, must learn to document!) And micro-controllers are, of course, magnificent thingies. I've got an older Arduino that's going to be repurposed shortly from 'general tinkering' to 'tachometer' for my lathe, taking a signal from an led/sensor mounted around the edge of a 60-hole index plate and displaying the speed to four 8-segment displays for the output - perhaps with a 'Duck!' buzzer and a display of 'TILT' if it exceeds the maximum spindle speed.

I'm guessing you'll want to turn metal. Offhand, it seems to come down to the Taig Microlathe and the Sherline 4X00 for reasonable benchtops. I can't really say yay or nay for Sherline, not having used them - they seem to have a good reputation. I went with Taig and recommend them wholeheartedly, I've found Taig as a company to be speedy and small-user friendly - they've shipped me a replacement nut for the spindle years after I picked up the lathe (when I finally noticed the original nut was misbored), and mailed me half a stageclamp when I lost it in the general mess, both times just for asking.

Some great reference for the Taig here, at Carter Tools - Nick Carter blogs a lot of his work, and is a frequent contributor to the TaigTools mailing list. Seems helpful. The articles on setup and alignment are a good intro to what it's like out of the box.

love the steampunk tardis computer idea

Love what you're doing with the steampunk console. came across something that you might be interested in as something to add to your console.

http://hitechsys.co.uk/html/sales/news.html

this link will take you to a site where a company called hi tech systems made a steampunk broadcast controller. It looked to me like something that could fit in with your console design..at very least maybe give you some more ideas. Especially think the gas turbine interchange controls he refers to in the video would be totally cool as the dematerialization/materialization levers..something like the pertwee era levers with a steampunk twist

Keyboard controller

I saw the comment about the microswitches to integrate with a normal keyboard matrix.

Just FYI, depending on how many keyboard inputs you need, you can save a lot of trouble picking up an IPAC4

http://www.ultimarc.com/ipac1.html

If 56 isn't enough, you can connect several to a single PC. They're typically used by Arcade cabinet builders to connect up all the joysticks and buttons to a PC, but they look to the PC just like a keyboard, and you map what input generated what keystroke, completely remappable on the fly even.